Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishing 2015

Looks delicious! Well done!

snapper are delicious but my pond fish are not for eating. Ill go out to the river or ocean for that.

Sure, but we've got to know if these 'salt water' species still taste good coming out of fresh water!!!

I agee , mangrove are known brackish water inhabitants so they should be fine but still.....need to know

Pat, run down to the gulf and bring a few back and try them out in your pond and see if you can get them to surrvive your winter. You might be able to pull it off.

Don't know that they can pull that off. Sometimes winter temp gets in single digits.... Not all the time . Even in Galveston they will die back if water gets to cold

I don't know if this qualifies, but one of my HSB died a few days ago. It hadn't been dead very long, but had floated to the surface in the 48 F degree water of my uppermost pond. It hadn't lost color, and its eyes were still clear. Its gills were flared, and it was quite dead.

I filleted and skinned it. It was a female full of eggs. It was right at 16 inches and just over 3 pounds -- I don't have any Wr charts for HSB, but it sure looked like it had an Wr of well over 1.

Also, our asparagus patch is doing extremely well this season, so we we've been adding that to our dinners.

I lowly-heated and slowly melted half of a 1/4 pound stick of salted butter into my 12-inch cast iron skillet, that also has a heavy cast iron cover. I chopped up and added two garlic cloves to the melted butter.

After having soaked the fillets in a salt brine solution overnight, and then soaked them in several refreshes of tap water before getting ready to cook them, I slathered them in olive oil and dropped them in the warm melted butter. I topped the filets with a coating of some "Old Bay" seasoning, some ground cayenne pepper, and a drizzle of liquid smoke.

I added some of the thumb-thick fresh asparagus where there was space between the filets.

These striper's fathers may have started out as saltwater fish. This particular batch of HSB have lived in my ponds for about five months.

Freshwater or saltwater, it sure didn't affect the taste in anyway, except to maybe make it even better.

I can't even begin to describe how delicious HSB filets (with the fat removed), slowly steamed in butter with fresh asparagus, can be.

Ken

Wow that sound good! Course I like fish anyhow

"I don't know if this qualifies, but one of my HSB died a few days ago. It hadn't been dead very long...."

I immediately knew something was getting cooked.

Yep, just like hearing "I came across a fresh killed possum in the road on my way home".

Sounds good to me. Roadkill possum can be real tasty if properly prepared, and if it hasn't been flattened and sun-baked into a road tortilla.

If Sunil wasn't such a good personal friend with whom I've experienced everything from potential life-threatening situations, to a lot of just plain fun times, I might take this as something less than complimentary.

But, I've seen him inhale or slurp down a lot of my wildlife/deadlife/roadkill delicacies -- and that was before he had a chance to down very many Peronies.

I just wish he wouldn't have had another mutual friend of ours boot a big old snapping turtle out of the outhouse at his pond! That would have been some good eating!

It is time for a regional Pond Boss fishing/hunting/eating fest.

Maybe Omaha or Lincoln, NE. Lynda and will be out there a couple of weeks from now for a visit.

Bobby,
how big was the snapper when you put in the pond? Can you notice any growth?

Don't know if there are rules associated with this thread. Because these weren't caught on our pond. Our place is a few miles from Mark Twain Lake 17,000 AC Corps lake in NE Missouri. The wife and I heard the crappies were spawning, so we gave it a shot. Caught 30, these were the bigger 15..

Awesome 'stringer' of fish! They look like they would produce very nice filets. Do they taste good? Similar to panfish/BG or closer to bass? How do you prepare them or filet them and cook them?

Taste wize they in the top5 of all fish

My wife fried up some filets last night. They were delicious!!
We also cook them on the grill. On foil with butter and some spices. Fantastic..
Sixty filets will go pretty fast. They say the spawning season at Mark Twain runs for about six weeks, moving west to east, shallower to deeper water. I hope to get out at least one more, maybe two more times.
Thanks

A lot of them look like females full of eggs. You keep those and fry them up too?

Shorty - you are growing some real dandy smallies. Nice work. You are making pond owners jealous.

Beautiful fish, Shorty!

Pond Grand Slam - great morning on the pond:









http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=410019#Post410019

Nice job Mr. and Mrs. G!!

Outstanding, Glazeners!!!!!

Was a good morning. Landed a few dinks but landed 2 nice little LMB as well, back to back maybe 30 minutes apart.

6.92 lbs




5.33 lbs

But the topper of the morning was this chunk. A big fat channel cat.

Last Autumn I hooked up with the fish. I managed to work it to shore on 6 lb test line, got its head in my net but the water was so shallow that it flopped out when I tried to lift the net. When I attempted to reposition the fish to the net the line broke. And that fat cat swam away. GRRRR! LOL

Fast forward to this morning. The bass action slowed so I rigged up one line for this catfish. Yes this specific one. Using the chilli cheese hot dog I flopped it into the pond, set the rod against a cinder block, and walked back to my other lines. A few minutes later I looked over and noticed the line being peeled off the reel in a hurry! I sprinted over to the rod and set the hook and knew I had a big catfish (there are turtles in this pond, and they enjoy eating cheese dogs as well). But within seconds the line went limp and I reeled in only line. The hook, bait, and cat were in the water. Line broke. I switched reels to a saltwater reel with 15 lb braided line on it, set another cheese dog in the same spot and I kid you not within 10 minutes that line was zinging through the pond and the rod tip bouncing all over the place. I picked up my rod and hesitated, allowing more line to be peeled in hopes that the cat would swallow or bite down and I wouldn't set the hook and rip it from the cat's mouth. But stupid me I hadn't adjusted the drag, so upon setting the hook I had nothing but limp drag and the reel clicking as I was attempting to crank in line but the drag was set poorly and the fish found slack and out with the hook. Strike 2! I adjusted the drag, I put another cheese dog on the line and set it back into the same area. Maybe 5 minutes and BAM the line is going crazy AGAIN! I picked up my rod and let the line run over my finger, feeling it to determine it if was a big 'un. Wait...wait for it ... and then SET! And it was a good set and I knew I had that big fat cat from last Autumn on my line!!! This was a fast catfish and he peeled off quiet a bit of line with the drag set it was a workout for the fish. I reeled in, it peeled out, I reeled in, it peeled out, etc. But after some minutes I noticed I made progress, it was closer and closer to the shore. So when I see it I instantly recognize it as the cat that broke my line last Autumn and I have my net but I'm thinking how am I gonna get this fat boy in it? I figured I had one opportunity to position the net and guide the cat into it. This time I was in deeper water and so I was able to guide the head in and the deep net allowed me to scoop the rest of the cat in and out of the water! I couldn't believe it I finally landed that bait stealer!!! So a little conversation between he and I, a couple of pics, and then a massage back in the pond and the cat was swimming away. My work here is done, I thought. Two LMB over 12 pounds total, and now this big cat - why stay and fish any longer? LOL